An email conversation with Patrick inspired me to look up on TripAdvisor the best tourist destinations in Boston and Cambridge that I haven't yet experienced. I was pleased to see that I have taken advantage of almost all the top ones, so I don't feel a need to check off everything, but it does give me some ideas for weekend activities between now and 6/6/14.
People planning to visit me before or at graduation - or who live in Massachusetts! - should feel free to suggest some for which they'd like to join me, and I'll save them. Otherwise, I'll fit some of these in, and report back.
Boston
8 Boston Public Library
Exactly what it says on the tin, and apparently very beautiful.
13 New England Holocaust Memorial
An outdoor sculptural assemblage downtown, erected 50 years after the end of WWII to remember the victims of the holocaust.
16 The Printing Office of Edes & Gill
They printed the Boston Gazette, a revolutionary newspaper during the 1770s.
20 Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum
Not the original. I have heard that it's somewhat cheesy, but the reviews are ok.
23 Castle Island
No longer an island, but it does have a castle (well, a fort), nice walking space, and great views of Boston.
25 Boston Children’s Museum
Perhaps not really for me, and I think it will be more than 11 months before Daphne comes to visit.
Oops: I had this on the list, but I realised that they provide the ferries to the harbour islands, which I have visited.
31 Massachusetts State House
The outside is recognisable: it makes me think of the Emperor's Palace in Cynos in a very amateur fantasy story I began to write many years ago. I've never been inside.
32 Little Brewster Island and Lighthouse
Great for fans of lighthouses!
34 Blue Man Group
An avant-garde performance group whose concerts include experimental music, comedy and multimedia (thanks, Wikipedia).
36 Charlestown Navy Yard
Gives visitors the chance to understand a little of what goes into building naval vessels.
1 Mt Auburn Cemetery
Many people find it surprising that a cemetery is apparently Cambridge's number 1 attraction (above, for instance, the campuses of America's finest university - and a little red-brick liberal arts school up the river). Apparently it's very scenic, and people simply complain that they can't bring their picnic lunch.
7 Brattle Theatre
Repertory/arthouse/foreign - yes, Cambridge (especially Harvard Square) can be a little pretentious.
9 Longfellow House National Historic Site
First George Washington's headquarters, then home to a famous author.
15 Minuteman Trail
A nice bike ride out towards the west.
17 Fresh Pond Reservation
To be honest, we might be starting to get out of the distinctive attractions here and down to just nice places to go for a walk! But I like walks.
21 Harvard Art Museums
I don't know much about them. It's not surprising that the university has an art museum, and they may well have famous artworks, but there are other more famous art galleries in greater Boston (e.g. numbers 1 and 28 on the Boston list).
22 Arthur M. Sackler Museum
Kind of cheating, seeing that it is one of the Harvard Art Museums!
25 Harvard University Herbaria
I'm not sure that this is really a tourist attraction (open to all qualified visitors with scientific reasons to study the collections): I think the Cambridge list is somewhat padded.
26 American Academy of Arts and Sciences
I'll keep my eyes open for an interesting lecture there, but otherwise I won't regret missing it.
27 Schlesinger Library
I guess I've been past it, since Harvard's Gilbert and Sullivan shows are nearby. The buildings around Radcliffe court look very Harvard!
Castle Island sounds interesting to me. It's great to see a city spread out before you. Happy walking, what a good idea of Patrick's. M
ReplyDeleteI'll note it as an agendum for your next visit!
ReplyDelete